IntroductiontoComposite

Introduction
to Composite
MaterialsandStructures
NachiketaTiwari
Nachiketa
Tiwari
IndianInstituteofTechnologyKanpur

Lecture17
BehaviorofUnidirectionalComposites

Lecture Overview
LectureOverview
Predictivemodelsfortransversestiffness
P di ti
d l f t
tiff
ShearmodulusandPoissonsratio
Estimatesfortransversestrength
Predictivemodelsforcoefficientofthermal
expansion
Thermalconductivityy

PredictingTransverseModulusofUnidirectionalLamina

Figure17.1showsasimplemodelforpredictingtransversemodulusof
unidirectionallamina.Here,themodelconstitutesoftwoslabsof
materials fiber and matrix of thicknesses tf andt
materials,fiberandmatrix,ofthicknessest
and tm,respectively.The
respectively The
overallthicknessofcompositeslabistc,whichissumoftf andtm.Itmay
benotedherethatthesethicknessesoffiberandmatrixaredirectly
proportionaltotheirrespectivevolumefractions.
ti
l t th i
ti
l
f ti

Fig.17.1:ASlabLike
ModelforPredicting
TransversePropertiesof
Unidirectional Composites
UnidirectionalComposites

IInsuchasystem,externallyimposedstressonthecomposite(
h
t
t
ll i
d t
th
it ( c)is
)i
assumedtobesameasthatseenbyfiber(f)andalsobymatrix(m).
Thisisincontrasttothemodeldevelopedforpredictinglongitudinal
modulus,wherewehadassumedthatstrains,andnotstresses,in
composite,fiberandmatrixareequal.

PredictingTransverseModulusofUnidirectionalLamina

Further,insuchamodel,whichisakintospringsinseries,theoverall
displacementincomposite(
d
sp ace e t co pos te ( c))intransversedirectionduetoexternalload
t a s e se d ect o due to e te a oad
isasumofdisplacementinfiber(f)anddisplacementinmatrix(m).
c =f +m
Further,recognizingtherelationbetweenstrainsineachconstituent,and
theirthicknesses,aboveequationcanberewrittenas:
c tc =m tm +f tf

Dividingaboveequationbythicknessofcomposite(tc),andrealizingthat
tf/t
/ c,andt
d m/t
/ c equalV
l f andV
d m,respectively,weget:
l
c =m Vm +f Vf

Inlinearelasticrange,strainisaratioofstressandthemodulus.Hence,
aboveequationcanbefurtherrewrittenas:
(c/Ec)=(m/Em)Vm +(f/Ef)Vf

PredictingTransverseModulusofUnidirectionalLamina

However,wehadearlierassumedthatexternallyappliedstressonthe
composite(c)issameasthatseenbyfiber(f)andalsobymatrix(m).
Thus previous equation can be rewritten as:
Thus,previousequationcanberewrittenas:
1/Ec=Vm/Em +Vf/Ef
(Eq.17.1a)
Oralternatively,
Ec =(EfEm)/([(1Vf)Ef +VfEm]

(Eq.17.1b)

Equation17.1givesusanestimatefortransversemodulusof
unidirectional lamina The relation shows that a significant increase in
unidirectionallamina.Therelationshowsthatasignificantincreasein
fibervolumefractionisrequiredtoraiseoveralltransversemodulusin
moderateamounts.Thisisinstarkcontrastwithlongitudinalmodulus,
which is linearly dependent on fiber volume fraction
whichislinearlydependentonfibervolumefraction.

q
,
g
p
,
Equation17.1,eventhoughbasedonasimplemodel,isnotborneout
wellbeexperimentaldata.TOaddressthisinconsistency,several
alternativemodelshavebeendeveloped.

PredictingTransverseModulusofUnidirectionalLamina

However,inthislecturewewillusesimpleandgeneralizedexpressionsfor
ttransversemodulusasdevelopedbyHalpin
a s e se odu us as de e oped by a p aandTsai.Thesearerelatively
d sa
ese a e e at e y
simplerelations,andhenceeasytouseindesignpractice.Theresults
fromHalpin andTsaiarealsoquiteaccurateespeciallyiffibervolume
fraction is not too close to unity
fractionisnottooclosetounity.

AsperHalpin andTsai,transversemodulus(ET)canbewrittenas:
ET/Em =(1+Vf)/(1 Vf)
(Eq.17.2)
where,
=[(E
[( f/E
/ m)
) 1]/[(E
] / [( f/E
/ m)+]
) ]
Here, isaparameterthataccountsforpackingandfibergeometry,and
Here
is a parameter that accounts for packing and fiber geometry and
loadingcondition.Itsvaluesaregivenbelowfordifferentfibergeometries.
=2forfiberswithsquareandroundcrosssections.
=2a/b
2a/b forfiberswithrectangularcrosssection.Herea
for fibers with rectangular cross section Here a isthecrosssectionaldimension
is the cross sectional dimension
offiberindirectionofloading,whileb istheotherdimensionoffiberscrosssection.

ShearModulusandPoissonsRatio

Aperfectlyisotropicmaterialhastwofundamentalelasticconstants,E and
.Itsshearmodulusandbulkmoduluscanbeexpressedintermsofthese
ts s ea odu us a d bu
odu us ca be e p essed te s o t ese
twoelasticconstants.

Likewise,atransverselyisotropiccompositeplyhasfourelasticconstants.
Theseare:

EL,, i.e.elasticmodulusinlongitudinaldirection.
ET i.e.elasticmodulusintransversedirection.
GLT i.e.longitudinalshearmodulus.
LT i.e.Poissonsratio

Adetaileddiscussiononthemathematicallogicunderlyingexistenceof
these four constants will be conducted in a subsequent lecture
thesefourconstantswillbeconductedinasubsequentlecture.

Tillsofar,wehavedevelopedrelationsforEL,andET.Nowwewilllearn
aboutsimilarrelationshipsforGLT andLT.

ShearModulusandPoissonsRatio

Halpin andTsaihavedevelopedrelationssimilartoEq.17.2whichcanbe
usedtopredictlongitudinalshearmodulus,G
used
to p ed ct o g tud a s ea odu us, GLT.Thisisshownbelow.
s s s o be o
GLT/Gm =(1+Vf)/(1 Vf)
where,
=[(Gf/Gm) 1]/[(Gf/Gm)+1]

(Eq.17.3)

ForpredictingPoissonsratioLT,weexploitthefactthatalongitudinal
tensilestraininfiberdirection,willgeneratePoissoncontractionin
transversedirectioninboth,matrixandfibermaterials.
Inthiscontext,wealsousethefactthatrelativestrainvaluesforsucha
contraction will be proportional to each constituent materialssvolume
contractionwillbeproportionaltoeachconstituentmaterial
volume
fraction.Thus,overallPoissonsratioLT forthecompositecanbewritten
as:
LT =fVf +fVm

(Eq.17.4)

TransverseStrength

Wehaveseenthataunidirectionalply,whenputtotensioninfiber
directiontendstobreakatstressvalueswhichexceedmatrixtensile
strength.ThisisparticularlytruewhenfibervolumefractionexceedsV
g
p
y
crit.
Similarly,fibersplayacentralroleinsignificantlyenhancingthestiffnessof
theplyinfiberdirection,andtheoverallstiffnessofthesystemtendsto
far surpass that of pure matrix.
farsurpassthatofpurematrix.

Thisoccursbecausefibers,whicharestrongerandstiffervisvismatrix,
carryamajorportionofexternalload,therebyenhancingcomposites
stiffnessandstrength.

However,thesamemaynotbesaidforaunidirectionalplyloadedin
tensioninthetransversedirection.Thisisbecauseloadsharingbetween
fib
fiberandmatrixinatransverselyloadedplyisveryless.Incontrast,the
d ti i t
l l d d l i
l
I
t t th
extentofloadsharingbetweenfiberandmatrixinalongitudinallyloaded
plyisverysignificant.
Whenaunidirectionalloadissubjectedtotransversetension,fiberswhich
arefarmorestiffvisvismatrix,acttoconstrainmatrixdeformation.

TransverseStrength

Suchaconstraintonmatrixdeformation,tendstoincreaseplystransverse
modulus,thoughonlymarginally(unlessfibervolumefractionishigh).

However,thestoryisevenmorestarklydifferentincaseoftransversestrength.
Thedeformationconstraintsimposedonmatrixbyfiberstendtogeneratestrain
andstressconcentrationsinmatrixmaterial.

Thesestressandstrainconcentrationscausethematrixtofailatmuchlesser
values of stress and strain, than a sample of matrix material which has no fibers at
valuesofstressandstrain,thanasampleofmatrixmaterialwhichhasnofibersat
all.Thus,unlikelongitudinalstrength,transversestrengthtendstogetreduced for
compositesduetopresenceoffibers.

Thisreductionintransversestrengthofaunidirectionalplyischaracterizedbya
factor,S,thestrengthreductionfactor.Theexactvalueofthisfactorcanbe
calculated by using a combination of advanced elasticity formulations and
calculatedbyusingacombinationofadvancedelasticityformulationsand
numericalsolutiontechniques.

Thestrengthofunidirectionalplyintransversedirection,
Th
t
th f idi ti
l l i t
di ti
b
itt
uT,canbewrittenas:
uT =uf /S
(Eq.17.5)

SomeOtherPropertiesofUnidirectionalPlies

Usingapproachesasdescribedearlier,thermalconductivityinL (kL)
d ect o ca be
directioncanbewrittenas:
tte as
kL =Vfkf +Vmkm
(Eq.17.6)

Similarly,transverseconductivity,kT,canbewrittenas:
kT/km =(1+Vf)/(1 Vf)
(Eq.17.7)
where,
where
=[(kf/km) 1]/[(kf/km)+], where,
log =1.732log(a/b)

Finally,longitudinalandtransversethermalexpansioncoefficientshave
beenshowninengineeringliteraturetobe:
L =(E
( fVf f +EmVm m)/E
)/ L
(
(Eq.17.8)
)
T =(1+
= (1+f)Vf
ff +(1+
+ (1+m)Vm
m LLT

(Eq 17 9)
(Eq.17.9)

What you learnt in this lecture?

Whatyoulearntinthislecture?
Predictivemodelsfortransversestiffness
P di ti
d l f t
tiff
ShearmodulusandPoissonsratio
Estimatesfortransversestrength
Predictivemodelsforcoefficientofthermal
expansion
Thermalconductivityy

R f
References
1.

Analysis and Performance of Fiber Composites, Agarwal,

B D and
B.D.
d Broutman,
B t
L J.,
L.
J John
J h Wiley
Wil & Sons.
S

2
2.

Mechanics
M
h i off Composite
C
i Materials,
M
i l Jones,
J
R M.,
R.
M McGraw
M G
Hill.

3.

Engineering Mechanics of Composite Materials, Daniel, I.

M and Ishai,
M.
Ishai O.,
O Oxford University Press.
Press